In July, then-Republic Report bloggers Lee Fang and Zaid Jilani taped an interview with Congressman Heath Shuler, Democrat of North Carolina. Shuler had announced he would retire from Congress at the end of the current session. Concerned about the revolving door culture and its corruption of our politics, our reporters asked Shuler whether he was planning to become a lobbyist after retiring. Shuler flatly told them no.
Yesterday, Duke Energy announced that it “has named Heath Shuler as senior vice president of federal affairs, effective Jan. 4, 2013…. Shuler will be based in Duke Energy’s Washington, D.C. office.” In other …
Congressman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has faced years upon years of scandal: FBI investigations over corrupt land deals, ties to the Duke Cunningham bribery scandal, pay-to-play earmarks, and even a small controversy over his attempt to solicit lobbyists to finance his official portrait.
Later this month, American League of Lobbyists is hosting an event on “Effecitve and Ethical Lobbying.” The lecture is led by none other than Jerry Lewis and his colleague Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA).
The invitation makes no mention of Lewis’ scandal-plagued history. The website touts him as a top appropriator who has been “active …
One of the best ways for special interests to influence our lawmakers is to hire former government staffers to get the insider access needed to win legislation and regulation. By passing through the “revolving door,” these staffers are generously rewarded for winning over government favors for private clients, often clients who seek to distort public policy to favor wealthy interests.
This revolving door should be a scandal. But in Washington, it’s simply become normal. The local press there even glamorizes it.
Take this profile of Holly Fechner, the former policy director to the late Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), in The Hill, …
Last year, the more than century-old music company EMI Group announced it would split up in two, with the two parts sold to Universal Music Group and Sony Corporation in a multi-billion dollar deal.
A number of consumer groups, lead by the Consumer Federation of America and Public Knowledge, have criticized the Universal-EMI Group merger in particular, saying that it would help kill competition in the industry. The two aforementioned groups filed “detailed comments with the Federal Trade Commission objecting” to the deal last week.
Today, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to discuss the merger.
The companies involved are spending …
Selling out pays. We looked at just a dozen Members of Congress who became lobbyists and other advocates for special interests after they left office and found that they received an average of a 1,452 percent raise. So we here at Republic Report sent a letter to all 36 retiring Members of Congress asking them to commit to disclosing any job negotiations they have with anyone during the rest of their time in office. That way, we at least know who they’re potentially selling out to, and we can watch out for signs that, while still in office, they …
Selling out pays. Members of Congress who retire to become lobbyists get huge paydays. We looked at just a dozen federal lawmakers who went through the revolving door and found that they get, on average, 1,452% raises.
That’s why we sent a letter to the 36 retiring Members of Congress to publicly disclose any negotiations they’re having with lobbying firms or anyone else for a job after they leave Congress. If they’re selling out, we at least want to know — especially while they’re still in Congress and making laws that govern our lives.
Two Members of Congress told …
Members of Congress who become lobbyists get huge paydays. A dozen lawmakers-turned-lobbyists we looked at got an average raise of 1,452%.
So we sent a letter to the 35 retiring members of Congress asking them to disclose any job negotiations they’re having for their post-congressional careers — so at least the public would know what’s being offered to lawmakers who are still governing our lives.
Earlier this week, Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI) told us that it should be law for there to be disclosure. Then, Rep. Jean Schmidt (R-OH) refused to make such a commitment. But we also spoke to …
The Salt Lake Tribune today published a piece about Utah’s weak ethics laws surrounding the revolving door — where state lawmakers leave the legislature to become lobbyists.
The paper notes that the state officially requires lawmakers to wait one calendar year before becoming lobbyists. However, there is a loophole that allows these legislators to lobby individually or on behalf of businesses they are affiliated with (as long as the sole purpose of the business is not lobbying). Ethics groups have tried unsuccessfully to close this loophole for years.
The Tribune interviewed former Sen. Mike Dmitrich (D), who was the minority leader …
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